Narada the Devarshi

June 13, 2008

Dear Saseedharanji,

I have heard two stories about cursing or hurting Narada muni. One is Daksha prajapathis' curse and another one Ravana gets angry and uses his sword " chandrahasa " and then his powerful trident.

I will tell both briefly. Dkahsa prajapathi was given the duty of increasing creation or srushti by Brahma. So he had several sons and he told them to observe penance and derive strength and spiritual splendour. Aftet that they have to marry and should have several children to contribute to the effort of Brahma to increase population. They went to Himalayas and there Narada Maharshi met them, asked them why they were there. They told Narada that after the pennance they wanted to get married and have children. Narada maharshi advised that " there is no joy in married life. Your aim should be to escape the never ending sorrows of married life. Choose the path of asceticism and attain self realization "

They were impressed by Narada's advice and all became sanyaasis. Daksha knew about this and cursed Narada: " you worked against my desire and I curse you to remain a vagabond eternally. You will never stay in one place " . Narada was happy and thus he became a wandering muni. But he is the greatest devotee of Krishna and saw the curse as an opportunity to wander and spread the glory of Krishna in all the 14 worlds.

In the second story Ravana, the demon of Lanka fights and tries to kill Narada. I am not sure whether this story is in the Valmiki Ramayana because I have not read the Ramaayanam moolam by Valmiki. One day Narada was travelling and on the way Ravana stopped him and asked him to teach the meaning of Aum. Narada said I cannot teach you. you are not a paathram to receive this vidya or you are not eligible to learn this. Ravana was very angry and told Narada that if he does not teach him right then, he will use the sword Chndrahasa on Narada. Narada still refused to teach and Ravana slashed chandrahasa at Narada. Nothing happened. It went through Narada's body with out even causing a single cut. Narada stood happy and fearless and smiled at Ravana. Ravana's anger knew no bounds.

Then he took the trident that emits fire and that which is stronger than Brahmasthra and used it on Narada with out mercy. Narada stood there smiling and chanting " Siva rama govinda narayana mahadeva krishna hare and Hare krishna mahadeva narayana govinda rama siva " . Nothing happened, trident went thorugh him with out causing the least harm. Ravana was impressed and asked Narada what was his power? Narada said " nothing other than ananya bhakthi of Lord Krishna " . Narada told Ravana that " Bhagavan blessed me with a spiritual body and I can go anywhere in the 14 worlds as I wish and no weapon can kill me. So do not try to kill me. You will not understand what a spiritual body is with your limited knowledge. " Then he cursed Ravana saying " a monkey will spit on your face and after the tenth day of this incident you will be killed " This curse of Narada became a boon to Ravana because he could die by the arrows of Lord Srirama.

So I think all the demons knew about the power and blessings of Narada and did not venture to attack him. No other stories come to my mind about anybody trying to attack Narada maharshi.

Regards and prayers

Savitri

Once he even challenged Narada Muni. Narada was flying, and Ravana saw him. He called out, " Hey! Come here. " Narada Muni thought, " Why should I be of any trouble? Let me go there. " Ravana said, " You teach me the meaning of om, right now. " Narada said, " No. Meaning of Om is not to be taught to people like you. I won't teach. " Ravana said, " Why not? I am a disciple, and you are a guru. You must teach me. " This started in Treta-yuga, the disciples telling their guru what to do. So then Narada said, " This is not for this age, Ravana. You please wait. " Ravana said, " No! Do you know who I am? I am Trilokeshvara Ravana. Here is my sword! " He had a sword called Candrahasa. This sword was so wonderful, that you can just tell the sword, " You go and kill him. " It will chase you through the fourteen planetary systems, kill you and then return. Such a missile he had. Candrahasa can go through steel, through brass, even through illusion. Suppose a person creates an illusion by magic, Candrahasa would go through the illusion and kill that person. This is the sword he used when fighting with Airavata, the white elephant. So Narada said, " You are showing me some sword, and you think you are going to frighten me into teaching you the Vedas? This is not the principle for learning Vedas. What kind of knowledge will you get from me? That knowledge will become useless, so I will not teach you. " Ravana said, " All right Narada, get ready. " " I am always ready, " Narada said. " What do you mean? Get ready now! " So he took the Candrahasa sword and slashed Narada. It went right through him, but nothing happened. Narada was standing there smiling. Ravana got so angry. " I am going to finish you! " he screamed and took his trident which emits fire, which is only used by Lord Siva and which is more powerful than the Brahmastra. It went right into him, but Narada was still standing there chanting, " Hari! Hari! " Ravana took all his astras and weapons at his command and threw everything at Narada, who was catching them and giving them back, " Don't lose this, you may need it. " So then Ravana put all his weapons aside, touched Narada's feet, and gave him a seat. " Please tell me, " he inquired. " How come you are not killed? " Narada said, " This is a benediction from the Supreme Lord, that I have got a spiritual body. You don't understand this. Once upon a time you also had one, but you lost it because of some mistake. Don't waste time trying to kill me, because I won't die. " Ravana said, " That's what I want also! Can you teach me the trick? " Narada said, " Very simple, just accept Visnu as the Supreme Lord. Surrender to him. " Ravana's face screwed up. " Oh! Aaargh! Again that Visnu! I don't want to listen to this name! Get out of my palace, you and your transcendental body. All bogus! " So then Narada Muni said, " But Ravana, you have unnecessarily used your anger on me, so this will not go in vain. A monkey will spit on your face, and the tenth day after that you will die, although you are thinking you are so powerful. " Narada Muni cursed him. Actually it was a benediction. All curses by Narada are benedictions. Because of that curse that he would get spat on by Sugriva, he got the arrow of Rama in his chest. Sometimes when a Vaisnava is agitated, that is also auspicious. But we have to be a demon to agitate a Vaisnava. If we are not a demon, and he becomes agitated, he may not curse us but the material nature will take action. In any case, Hanuman thought, " Let me go and find Sita. "

On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 3:40 AM, saseedharan_vk <saseedharan_vk wrote:

In puranas we hear of the stories of Asuras like Ravana, kamsa etc tormenting/killing the Devas, Yogis,Human beings, etc.The Asuras do not leave even the supreme Gods like Vishnu,Shiva etc. and go after them with the intention of killing them.How then Narada the Devarshi

is revered and spared by these Asuras?Can anyone through some light on this?Saseedharan.v.k